


Of Love and Legacy

by wayward_booty



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angelic Grace, Angst, Ficlet, M/M, Ultimate Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 04:39:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1537880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_booty/pseuds/wayward_booty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time is almost up. Sammy's nearly dead and Deans only found one thing that could possibly reverse the damage that's been done to him. Of course, it just so happens to be the one thing that he doesn't want to give.  In the end, he doesn't get a choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Love and Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> **This has some major pacing problems and needs to be rewritten** T'was an odd something that came to me randomly during summer hiatus while looking at s9 promo pics. Sat in my drafts for months. I figured I might as well clean it up a bit and get that thing out. It doesn't quite make sense, my apologies.

     "No. No, I don’t think so… This is it, Dean. I’ll do it… I’m- I’m done, anyway." Castiel meets Deans gaze and gives a small, comforting smile. 

     "…Done?"  What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

     "It means.. I’ve been alive for a very long time, and I’m tired." He tucks his angel blade into the left inside pocket of his tux and makes for the living room where Sam lies.

     "Whoa whoa whoa, hey there," Dean jumps forward, blocking Cas, "Can we at least talk about this? We can find another way, I just need a little more time-"

     The lights flicker around them in the small house. 

     "I think we’re just about out of time, Dean." Cas’s eyes crinkle in a way that makes something ache deep inside Dean’s chest.

     Cas starts towards Sam, once more.

     Dean grabs him by the arm, “Stop!”

     Cas tries to shake him off, “Dean-“

     "Just- Stop,okay? You can’t… do-," his throat is suddenly very, very tight, heart pounding in his ears. He squeezes Cas’s arm tighter, "Please," He whispers and Cas gives him a pitying look. He hates it, "I can’t lose either of you, okay? So, don’t-" He looks at Sam, his lifeless body laying on the couch, and wants to throw up, wants to run away from all of this, "Don’t put me in this position. Don’t make me feel like I have to choose between you two."

     Cas covers the hand Dean has clutched around his arm with his own,”I won’t…. I’m choosing for you.” In one swift movement Cas rips his arm away from Dean’s grasp and slugs him across the jaw, knocking him to the ground. 

     Dean hits his head on the kitchen floor and blacks out for several moments. When he comes to he is seeing stars. The lights are flickering like mad, and there demons banging outside on the doors and windows.The house gives an awful creak and Dean knows Cas was right; they are out of time.

     To his right he hears Cas crying out in pain. He staggers to his feet. Cas stands over Sam in the living room, one hand on his shoulder, the other at his own chest, tearing out the grace he had only just gotten back. 

     "Cas, No!" Dean yells, voice breaking. 

     Cas turns, “Close your eyes, Dean.”

     "Please, Cas! I-" There’s a loud explosion from upstairs, "- _I need you!_ ”

     Cas chokes out a small laugh, “I know, Dean. I know.” 

     The room fills with a blinding white light, and Dean is forced to look away. 

_~~~~~_

     When Cas opens his eyes he is on his back, sprawled out across a dock on a small lake. It’s just after dusk and the stars are starting to peak out against the early autumn sky. Cas sits up and turns; there’s a ‘67 Chevy Impala parked in the driveway of a small cottage just up the hill that sits behind him. He smiles, thinking back to the week he spent here with Dean and Sam and the hunter couple that owned the place almost six months ago. He thinks of what happened between him and Dean the night before they left that sanctuary and it makes him smile for just a moment before makes his gut twist in pain.He shouldn’t be here. He can’t be here; the house and all its property were defiled not a day after they fled when angels and demons alike came looking for them.

     He looks up at the sky and his breath catches in this throat and he swallows hard. There is only one way he could be here and it makes his chest feel like it’s collapsing, like all air has deserted him. He expected this might happen. It hurts. His heart hammers in his chest and he tries to breathe steady, but he is never going to see the real Sam and Dean, again. He curls his legs into his chest. Night is rapidly descending upon the ranch, now, and it fucking hurts. 

     A hand clasps him on the shoulder and Castiel nearly jumps out of his skin. The elderly man crouching down beside him gives him a smile and it is like a slap to the face. 

     "Father…" Cas tries to grasp for words, but his senses have been momentarily shocked out of all comprehension.  _I thought you were dead. Where have you been? Why did you abandon us? Why did you abandon me?_ He can’t figure out what he wants to say first, or perhaps if he should just hit him. But, all he does is gape at him.

     "I know, Castiel. I know," God sighs and settles down on the dock beside him.

     "We needed you," the words find their way to his mouth.

     God looks up at the stars and doesn’t answer. 

     "They’ll be okay, you know," He says after a moment, "Every day when Sam wakes up he thinks of how lucky he is. He feels guilty, of course, for you having sacrificed yourself to give him a fresh start, but he’s at peace," He gives Cas a small smile.  _  
_

Cas just stares at Him, uncertain of where this is going.

     "Dean will… manage," God pulls out a handkerchief and has a short coughing fit that shakes his frail body, "Sam watches out for him. And you-" He turns around and gestures towards the lake, "You watch over him." 

     The lake front shimmers and begins to glow. Just beyond the dock in the water is  is an areal view of Dean, tossing and turning in his bed, back on Earth; a looking-glass, so to speak. Cas moves to the edge, and crouches down, watching dean as he drifts to sleep. The pang in his chest returns full force. 

     "And sometimes he prays to you, and you hear it and you shout down at him and sometimes, just sometimes he can hear you. And sometimes, he dreams that he’s with you, on this dock, just sitting… Like that one day last fall."

     And Cas chokes out a laugh at the bittersweet memory and wipes his cheek with his sleeve.

     "And you, Castiel, you will be okay, too."

     At that, Cas turns around, “Father-” He starts to plead, but God is no longer there. Instead, Dean is sitting beside him, eyes wide and red rimmed.  

     "Cas?" Deans voice shakes.

     And all Cas can do is pull him into his arms. He thinks maybe this Heaven thing won’t be so bad, after all.


End file.
